Oakland upset again at Summit League Tournament

SIOUX FALLS, SD - MARCH 10: Travis Bader #3 of Oakland University shoots over Joe Edwards #53 of IPFW during their quarterfinal game at the 2013 Summit League Basketball Championships at the Sioux Falls Arena Sunday. (Photo by Dick Carlson/Inertia)

For the third consecutive week, Oakland played Fort Wayne. And for the the third consecutive time, the Golden Grizzlies lost to the Mastodons. This loss, though, likely ended the Grizzlies’ season.

The No. 5 seed Mastodons defeated the No. 4-seeded Golden Grizzlies, 91-72, Sunday night in the quarterfinals of the Summit League Tournament in Sioux Falls, S.D.

“Fort Wayne played a really good game,” Oakland coach Greg Kampe said. “You have to give them credit. When they beat you three times in 18 days, there’s not much you can say.”

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The Mastodons were red-hot shooting out of the gate, making their first five 3-pointers and eight of nine. Oakland cut an 18-point Fort Wayne lead to just eight at the half, trailing, 38-30, at the break.

The Mastodons cooled from long range in the second half, but Oakland struggled to get the deficit closer than seven points, as Fort Wayne maintained a double-digit advantage for much of the second half.

“We fought to get it back to seven and then we missed two wide-open looks to cut it to four,” Kampe said.

Frank Gaines led the Mastodons with a game-high 23 points and Luis Jacobo added 18 points and 12 rebounds for Fort Wayne (16-16).

Summit League First Team guard Travis Bader led the Golden Grizzlies (16-16) with 18 points on just 4-of-16 shooting.

“They really came out and wanted to beat us, and they did,” Bader said via press release. “They beat us twice in two weeks and they just wanted it. Tonight they came out and for some reason we didn’t come out with that same energy and desire to win.”

Fort Wayne shot 63 percent (30 of 48) for the game and held a 44-26 rebounding advantage over Oakland, which shot just 36 percent (22 of 62) from the field.

“We got a lot of pretty good looks and we just missed them,” Kampe said.

The Mastodons beat Oakland in two of the final three regular-season games leading into the tournament. They’ve now won six straight games and their 19-point margin of victory over Oakland is the tournament’s largest for a 4-5 seed matchup since 1999.

“Anytime when you can beat Oakland, that is pretty special,” Mastodons coach Tony Jasick said via press release. “We have had a couple of good weeks with that.”

Oakland suffered a first-round exit at the hands of a lower-seeded team for the second consecutive season. A four-game run through the CollegeInsider.com Tournament cushioned the blow last season, but it remains to be seen if the Grizzlies will be invited to participate this season.

Paul Kampe covers Oakland University basketball for Journal Register News. Email him at paul.kampe@oakpress.com and read his blog “Grizzlies Den” at TheOaklandPress.com/blogs/sports.